EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- A win over the also-ran Edmonton Oilersturned into a huge upswing in the standings for the DallasStars.

Michael Ryder scored two goals and added an assist to lift theStars over the Oilers 3-1 on Wednesday night.

Mike Ribeiro also scored and had two assists for the Stars(42-30-5), who moved back atop the tight Pacific Division.Dallas has a one-point lead over Los Angeles and San Jose, and atwo-point edge over Phoenix. Each team has five games remaining.

The Stars jumped from seventh place to third in the WesternConference standings.

"Every point is so valuable the way things sit right now,"Dallas defenseman Sheldon Souray said. "We have a tough roadright to the end of the season and hopefully we will be in themix when the dust settles a week or so from now. It's cliche,but you can only take it one game at a time.

"We've been in third for a while this year and you take one lossand you are in seventh or eighth and battling with teams onepoint behind you. It's exciting with so much on the line rightnow."

Kari Lehtonen was sharp for the Stars with 31 saves.

"It was a big two points for us," he said. "Sometimes it istougher to play against the teams that are already out becausethey might be more offensive-minded than the ones in the playoffrace. Every game is tough right now. We are happy to get thesetwo points and keep going."

Ryder moved past the 60-point mark for the first time since hisrookie season with Montreal in 2003-04.

"I'm just grateful for the opportunity here and for the chanceto play on the top line," he said. "We've been working welltogether. I'm happy to come here and help this team make theplayoffs and we are right there now."

Ales Hemsky had the lone goal for the Oilers (31-37-9), who were5-0-2 in their previous seven games.

"We kind of fell into their trap," Oilers coach Tom Renney said."We weren't very good in our own end or defensively, whichincludes the forecheck.

"We needed to stick to the job and get out noses a littledirtier than we did."

Dallas swept the four-game season series from the Oilers, whoare ahead of only Columbus in the West. When asked if the Starswere the one team that had Edmonton's number this season, Renneyresponded with a laugh.

"We only have one?" he said. "That's awesome. We are improving."

Edmonton came close to going ahead early, just eight minutes in,on a short-handed 2-on-1 break, but Lehtonen came across to makea kick pad save on Nick Schultz.

Dallas took a 1-0 lead 11:43 in when Ryder sped around JeffPetry and chipped the puck over the stick of diving goalie DevanDubnyk for his 34th goal.

The Stars took a two-goal lead 5:05 into the second period.Ribeiro took a return pass from Loui Eriksson on a 2-on-1 rushand banked the puck into the net off of Dubnyk.

Ryder had a breakaway chance, but Dubnyk made a stick save tokeep it at 2-0 after 40 minutes.

Lehtonen kept the Oilers off the board early in the third, doingthe splits to stop Jordan Eberle on a short-handed break.

The Stars made it 3-0 at 4:11 of the third when Ryder finished atic-tac-toe passing play at the side of the net for his secondgoal of the game.

Edmonton broke Lehtonen's bid for his fifth shutout of theseason at 8:21. Corey Potter's shot went wide but came off theboards to Hemsky at the other side of the net, and he scoredinto a wide-open goal.

NOTES: The Stars won the first three games of the season seriesby a combined score of 11-3. It was their first sweep of theOilers since the 2007-08 season. ... Oilers captain ShawnHorcoff was in the lineup after leaving the previous game earlywith an injury. Rookie F Lennart Petrell and veteran D AndySutton also returned. ... F Reilly Smith played for Dallas butthe Stars were without forward Eric Nystrom and Radek Dvorak,and defenseman Mark Fistric. ... Eriksson had two assists toreach 70 points for the third consecutive season. StevenStamkos, Joe Thornton and Henrik Sedin are the only other NHLplayers to have done that.

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